Sean Flynn Submits Comment to the U.S. Trade Representative about Copyright in South Africa
August 16, 2023
PIJIP Director Sean Flynn and Klaus Beiter, Professor of Law at North-West Unviersity South Africa submitted joint comments to the U.S. Trade Representative about Copyright in South Africa. The comments were made in response to IIPA submissions alleging South Africa is not in compliance with international copyright treaties due to the adoption of U.S. fair use exception, fair use, renumeration rights, and other reforms to South Africa's copyright act.
Professors Flynn and Beiter note:
"The IIPA's primary complaints are that South Africa's proposed copyright law will not follow the precise contours of U.S. Law or IIPA's desires about what U.S. law should be (e.g. it opposes the U.S. fair use doctrine). But these differences with U.S. law are proposed in South Africa to respond to its unique context of extreme income inequality which creates particular harms from unrestrained monopolies."